The Old And The New
by jeaninematthews
Summary: This is the story explaining what happened to Catherine Willows when she left to join the FBI
1. The Airport

_Catherine arrives at the Airport ready to join the FBI team in Quantico; this includes Rossi, Hotchner, Jareau, Morgan, Reid, Garcia and Prentiss._

Catherine waited alone at the airport; she waited for her flight to arrive. She felt as if she had been waiting forever, it was just her, and her own thoughts. Catherine never got a chance to sit back and actually go through her thoughts by herself very often and she found this feeling very unsettling. She looked up at the time, the plane was supposed to have arrived by now. She let out a big sigh and she shook her head ever so slightly, this motion was hardly noticeable. She watched the clock, giving it her full attention, its ticking sound was continuous, like the wait Catherine was facing. She found the clock interested for a moment, In order for the hand to move forward it must go back, then bounce forward, she related this to her own life. That was exactly how it was! _Even the clock has trouble with it's own purpose, so I'm not surprised that the rest of us do- _She though to herself. She was sounding really mad, even to herself, was she actually going off the rails? Was the separation between her and the team unbearable?

She waited for a few more hours; she was growing weary and tired, from doing absolutely nothing. Her eyelids flickered now and again as she stopped them from closing. She looked around to keep her focused on work, she started to examine others' behavior. This included what they did when they were bored, she hoped to pick up a wide range of emotions as she scanned the large white space, but all that she came across was boredom. She started to fidget with her fingers before pulling out her phone and checking it. She had no new messages. This showed her that it was time to move on. No one was going to turn up out of nowhere after taking part in a hot pursuit to find her before she left. No one had messaged her to come back or even called her. Her own daughter hadn't even called her back yet to confirm that she had the news. This was really it. She was leaving and there was no one to stop her. Real life wasn't like the movies. In real life, people had more important things to do, they were too caught up in their own problems to care about another person's. Catherine accepted this, it was just as well also, as Catherine believed that she fell into this category. But she would not give up until she had tried everything, even the unnecessary. She was a fighter. Finally, she heard her flight being announced and she quickly stood up and made her way through passport security, she passed the woman her passport gently without worry or hesitation.

"I'm so sorry for your wait Mrs…." She looked down at the passport "Ms Willows" The woman corrected herself. That simple mistake that the woman made about referring to her as a married woman only reminded Catherine on what she was missing out on even more; a man in her life. She smiled through it, not holding the woman responsible for what she had said as she didn't know her and she just assumed that she was indeed married. She kept eye contact with the woman, even though she found it really awkward

"Really, it's no trouble" she said gently, trying to reassure the woman, she too looked rather tired and slightly panicked. "You don't control the actual flight and what time it actually arrives so I wouldn't worry about it." Catherine didn't know whether she was coming across as angry, sarcastic or upset , but she was too tired to fully think about her actions' she was being the old Catherine-reckless.

The woman behind the desk gave her the passport back "Have a safe flight" she said flatly. Catherine's register wasn't working properly, she couldn't tell whether the woman was being sarcastic, polite or even threatening. Maybe she was getting to the point in her life when she thought everyone was out to bring pain and misery into her life. But she just smiled and took the passport from the woman cautiously, not saying a word after that. _It wasn't a threat was it?_ She kept on asking herself but she eventually let it go. She ignored herself even though she was nearly certain that it wasn't put towards her using the correct register for that particular conversation. Had she made the wrong decision?

Catherine walked on to the quiet, first class tables were pristine, polished and reflective. The seats were soft, padded and adjustable. This was one of the plus sides to her new job, they were rich, so they provided the transport which she found very hostile. But the plane was extremely quiet. The eeriness was amplified from the walls inside of the aerodynamic object, it was too quiet for her liking. Silence was unsettling. It was just about empty, except for a young man sitting comfortably in the corner opposite his computer screen. She sat a few metres away from him, casually glancing over her shoulder now and again to see if she was a threat to her, he looked harmless. However, looks could be deceiving. She started doing this quite frequently and it didn't take long for the young man to realize she was doing this conditioned action; he frowned closing his computer screen without shutting it down. Catherine started to drift off to sleep as the pilot announced take off. She needed to stay awake, she had things to do and most importantly people to watch. She constantly battled with her eyelids, she was losing the fight. She looked ahead and her vision was blurry, she could now see the man in front of her, peering down on her. She slipped into a deep sleep, her mind pondered as she sound gradually muffled. She had spun herself into a great sleep, and she felt like she was never going to wake up.


	2. The First Meeting

Catherine ran quickly through what she thought was a dim-lighted airport. The screams got louder and louder as they continuously echoed around her head, not being able to escape. She came to the end of the stretch of the unknown building, and pushed the door. It was locked. Panic filled her as she couldn't get out; she wisped her head around to scan the perimeter to make sure no one had caught up with her. The sweat ran down her face as well as the tears as she hammered the door, her palm impacting the wall as hard as she could, the door didn't budge one bit. She glanced down at her hands, bleeding red from the sudden strong impact which she imposed on herself, as well as the slit right in the middle where she had caught her hand on an unknown object while she was running full throttle. Her breathing became very fast as her whole body shook with fear, she couldn't escape. She was enrapt thoroughly within, unable to move from a single spot even if she tried. She didn't give up easily, but she had to, to save herself from further harm. She knew for definite that no one was coming to the rescue. She knew for certain that Knights in shining armour' didn't exist. She knew that this was her time to go. She looked up, her vision interlocked with the black figure standing in line with her, moving closer and closer as Catherine's heart rate increased and increased. The black threatening silhouette graciously lifted up his right arm, gripping tight on to the object that it possessed. "Ms Willows…" She heard coming from a far, the voice being very gentle soothed Catherine in a way. However that same phrase was repeated over and over again, growing to a crescendo until the eerie atmosphere was silent. She heard a big bang before a piercing pain commenced within her head. Everything went black.

_The aeroplane staff surrounds Catherine at the same time as the mysterious man that was on his computer earlier. _

Catherine fluttered her eyelids then opened her eyes slowly, she squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright yellow rays of the aeroplane ceiling lights. Her vision began to slowly focus, as the ceiling became more apparent. It was finely painted and decorated, the paint subtly in swirls of white, the wallpaper, which was a deep shade of maroon, hugging the joint of where the ceiling and walls met and shadowed by the lights which had now been dimmed down. She saw a few people looking down at her, it had been silent until now, and she started to pick up on the conversation.

"Do you think we should call a paramedic for when we get off?" one of the hosts said very concerned. He looked at the mysterious man who had left his laptop on the table where he had been sat.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, though she does look a little pale…." His voice trailed off at the end of his sentence, frowning. "Will you please go and pour some cold water, I think that's the least you may do." His voice was warm and polite as he smiled reassuringly. One of the air hostess' stood up and did what the man said as the man ushered the crown away from Catherine.

"Ms. Willows." Catherine frowned as she looked at him with slight anxiety. He frowned as her saw her trying to get up. "Careful, just stay where you are, you took quite a tumble, you should be fine it's just a precaution that we have to take. You hit your head quite hard; we were all very worried about you. His voice was now serious. But Catherine went against precaution and slowly began to sit up slowly, she then leaned again the padded seat which, moments ago, she had been sat on. She wiped her head to get rid of the moisture which had amassed on her eyebrows. Her head throbbed from where she had bashed it, she could feel the pulsations travelling through her head as she felt slightly dizzy.

"Allow me to introduce myself" he smiled, still looking at Catherine with worry. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, FBI BAU Supervisory Special Agent, I believe that you are a new member of my team, welcome" Catherine let out a slight chuckle. She knew that it was just her mind trying to make everything look as if there was something wrong, she was just paranoid about her new job. Surely if Dr. Reid wasn't suspicious at all, quite the opposite, the sarcastic lady at the airport was surely harmless too…Wasn't she?

The host then came back with some water. Spencer thanked all of them for their kind hospitality and they then went back to take care of other matters. Spencer dipped one of the patterned towels he had found in some water and placed it on Catherine's head. It instantly cooled her. "So, would you mind discussing what just happened? What did you experience? You were trembling extremely as well as sweating an awful lot, then you collapsed…" he went silent for a couple of seconds and passed the remaining distilled cold water to Catherine to drink.

She took a sip then looked back at him. "Well the last thing I remember is seeing you in front of me, though I couldn't get a clear image, everything was blurred. I had a really awful dream though, a nightmare you would say. It was panicked and there wasn't anywhere to go or anyone in sight…" she shivered thinking back to the images that she had experienced within her mind. "Let's just say the mind can play tricks, and this trick didn't end well for me. Sorry if I alarmed you.

"I was just worried about your health that's all" Spencer smiled though he could tell that she was still in some sort of stressed state. "You may say no more" He said reassuringly, not trying to gain anything from the conversation. "Do you feel better now?" he said gently slightly tilting his head to the side.

"I feel a little dizzy but much better; I greatly appreciate your concern, Dr.?" Her sentence trailed off as she couldn't remember his name. "Sorry, forgotten your name already" she felt really weak at this point.

"No worries," he smiled kindly. "You just hit your head quite hard, it's actually great that you can remember before the accident. It's Doctor Reid. Doctor Spencer Reid" he smiled feeling a little like James Bond, the ultimate agent.

"Well, Doctor Reid Doctor Spencer Reid" she grouped the entire phrase together "please can you help me up, I'd like to sit back down." She smiled, weakly.

"Of course" he said, helping her up gently and sitting her down. He sat opposite so he could watch Catherine to make sure she was okay, and to try and prevent any coming problems that could happen to Catherine. " I've got your back, Special Agent Willows.


End file.
